Empowering words… more… through the “writing space”

I don’t get to write about it much, or perhaps I should say, I don’t take as much time as I would like, to write about it…

… but, what is in the power of an assembled collection of written words?

Obviously, there are masters of this sort of thing, at least, more obviously… in print media. All one has to do is go to a book store, or peruse Amazon. Titles in print (ink on paper… and even virtual ink on virtual paper) are great and many. Some people have the power… the ability… to capture the attention, and sometimes the imagination, of the reader… or perhaps the author just happens to be saying something that appeals to a similar position held by a reader.

Yet, there are limits to this thing… this ink on paper… thing.

I know, I know…

…it’s almost sacrilege to some, to challenge “the traditional”, but there’s something to be said about taking the traditional, and looking at ways to make it more powerful more effectively engineer it (the traditional) to reach a larger (or… maybe not) audience. It’s not that one necessarily “challenges” the traditional… the art of wordsmithing… but rather, IS challenged to find another angle on the manner in which the written word is used to reach others. Can one reach a reader more effectively, and is it necessarily in the assembly of written words… the content… or can it be in the assembly of the written words AND the platform upon which those words are architected?

I think that last part is in need of emphasis… the platform… aka… the writing space.

I see a lot of people using the Web as if their words were assembled in ink on paper. I’m sorry, but there’s no creativity there. The electronic writing space yawns, and might even be near screaming in pain for not being effectively used. One might as well sit in front of a television, fascinated with the television, without realizing the power there, once the television is turned on. Plus, are these same people fooling themselves into believing that the Web reader… reads as if he/she were reading for print? True, some are… there’s no doubt there… but… I think I feel comfortable in saying… most are not. I think I’ve said it before… reading the Web has changed the way many read.

I also see many people using the electronic space as a platform… a soapbox… manipulating words with emotion, yet, also… as with those who use the electronic space like a piece of paper… ignoring the writing space… focusing too hard on the assembly of words, again, as if they were in print, and ignoring… ignoring… ignoring… the writing space. Perhaps it is that some of these people are feeling the power of writing for the first time. I write (in a public platform?), therefore I reach people. With this in mind, perhaps they are still flexing their newfound (whether real or imagined) ability to reach… while still using the traditional (print on paper) mindset of writing to reach.

It’s a brave new writing space… has been for a while. But… how many writers are adjusting their writing, with the new abilities that exist within the writing space? The new writing space requires a new artistry of the assembly of words. Perhaps it demands it, in order for us to move to the next level of writing.

Well said. This remains the challenge — learning how to use this multimedia environment to its greatest potential. Some websites and bloggers do it better than others. Historians, journalists, wordsmiths of all kinds will need to think with visuals and audio as a possible end product themselves, rather than as simply augmenting the writing.

Hi Janet, well, no, not really. Writing and reading for the Web requires an awareness of the differences in both the writing space and the reading space. It’s a matter of interaction with that space, as well as those who frequent it. It’s hard to summarize in a response comment, and probably more so having spent two years of a graduate program coming to better grips with it :)

Just as one example… I do know that lengthy academic pieces that one might normally find in print on paper, are somewhat out of place on the Web. I think there’s sufficient evidence to support this when we look at the way people surf the Web and read. “Chunking” is one of the philosophies that meets the new need, and I wrote about that in a post back in 2008.

My personal search, in this endeavor, is finding how differently items of history can be featured on the Web, based upon the user audience.

Good point, Greg. Bottom line is that there is a need for digital literacy awareness of sorts. People make the transitions, but often remain unaware of the differences, other than the implementation of hyperlinks.

It took journalists the better part of 20 years to figure this out. It’s only been in the last three years that many newspaper websites have begun utilizing more elements than text, photos and hyperlinks to present news, either as an original product or as a curated one. Now, they are scrambling to figure out the revenue model and going under in the process. (Though some of that is their own fault because they offered news for free for so long.) The term now, because the tools of the trade are so inexpensive purchase and easy to use, is citizen journalism, in which there are no professional gatekeepers to manage the flow of information and tell news consumers what’s important. The same thing is bound to happen in history. It already is. I’ve seen you, Kevin Levin and others bring history from ivory halls and stuffy interpretations to electronic frontier and open up interpretations to a larger group of individual where professors and academics no longer control interpretation and it’s happening in real-time. Will the term become citizen historians? I don’t know, but, in much the same way that a presence is needed on the web by professional journalists to provide context and solid journalism ethics to digital media, the same will be necessary for history. It may even be more important. I hope historians come to this digital awareness that you are talking about sooner than journalists. I’m not holding out hope for that since we’re 20 years in to the Internet as a serious means of presenting information. From the recent research on this I have done for my master’s degree, many thought the web was a passing fad, a glorified toy or something to replace a gaming system. Journalists and, apparently, historians saw no real use for or competition from the web. The mobile revolution has forced journalists to think differently since many digital news users get their news on a mobile device than anywhere else. The thinking is slowly changing with certain individuals in history, but you are right. Digital literacy is necessary for a complete utilization of the medium. J-schools are beginning to get it and incorporate this into journalism training or creating advanced degrees like I just finished. I haven’t looked at any history courses of study to see if this is trending. Are there courses for history majors or advanced history degrees with a focus on digital history, other than like you, who kind of created your own focus for it?

Also, I think some newspapers have yet to learn, and if they haven’t already failed, are on the verge.

As for history, yes, there are digital history programs. The one that stands out most is that offered at George Mason University. But, honestly, that still worries me. I don’t see it going in the direction that PhDs in new/digital media take the student. That’s the direction in which I’m leaning. I’m giving serious thought to a PhD in English, with a concentration in new media. I just think there’s more to be learned there, and I feel comfortable enough plugging history into that… a more complex understanding of the new writing space, and even a greater understanding of digital rhetoric.

Have you considered a PhD in educational design and technology? This degree examines the ways in which digital space is used in the educational process and integrating curriculum into that space for easier use and understanding by today’s students who are very comfortable in accessing digital resources, but who often lack the sophistication to determine the quality of information being accessed. This sounds like what you are talking about. It’s just that students aren’t the only ones who have a difficult time with this.

I have considered this, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I’d end up dropping an application for both programs… which happen to be at the same university (Old Dominion Univ.). Texas Tech has a distance program as well, but not as comprehensive, in what I see, with either of those at ODU.

It is interesting how you have used words from science – Power and Space. If you throw in a few more words such as mass, time, velocity, momentum, direction and efficiency, it would be interesting. “Direction” makes one think of persuasion, arguments, politics and courts. “Efficiency” makes one think of advertising. “Time” suggests connecting with your fans. “Mass” could be compared to the ideas themselves, symbolized using language, just as math symbolizes science. Literature could be compared to science – an organized body of ideas about – – ideas. Communication can be compared to technology – using ideas for a purpose.

I once heard that writing is communicating. It seems pretty obvious, but I had never thought of it in that way. In school, you are asked to write about a subject that you have not thought about, for a purpose you don’t know about, to a teacher whose mind you can’t fathom, while passing notes to your classmates is punished.

In technology, one can work with wood, metal, tools, etc. Or a person can work with various resources for a particular purpose. So it is with writing and communicating. The professor wants to know who your audience is – well, it is the professor – – The purpose dictates the medium and tools, but better tools facilitate various purposes.

There’s a great deal to digest in considering how one should approach the Web as a writing platform. In some ways, I think we’ve been geared, for so long, to write print on paper, that there will be a slow and gradual shift… and then, there will be some who write about it… and then… slowly, it will make its way into standard English courses. At this point, I don’t think the educational process taps into it a great deal (in regard to this subject), until grad school, perhaps. Creative writing courses may touch on it, in high schools, and undergrad courses may touch on it, but… for someone interested in really writing FOR the Web, there’s more to it than what I can imagine these pre-grad school courses offer. Personally, I found some sort of awakening when I started studying hypertext theory. It literally felt like it was re-wiring my brain… but seemed natural.